The strange custom of 'heaving' took place in Dolday on Easter Monday. A chair decorated with ribbons and coloured streamers was placed in the street and the women would wait for the unwary male to pass along the street...
The strange custom of 'heaving' took place in Dolday on Easter Monday. A chair decorated with ribbons and coloured streamers was placed in the street and the women would wait for the unwary male to pass along the street...
The Black Friars, or Dominican Friary, occupied the site between Broad Street and the City Walls at the Butts, and from the Sheep Market west to Dolday. Their habit was a black cloak and hood over a white cassock. They came to England in 1221, but when they settled in Worcester is not known,
There was undoubtedly a considerable number of Jews living in Worcester in the Middle Ages and, as at other places, they did not have an easy time here. In 1218, Henry lll issued a writ to the Sheriff ordering him to require all Jews wherever they walked or rode abroad within or without the city, to fix on the head of their outer garments two white patches of cloth.....
Some curious incidents are connected with the repairing of St. Andrew's spire. In 1801, while some repairs were being made, a barber named Baylis, shaved several of his customers on the top of it, and about the same time, a china painter named Cotterill, took up a small cup, which he painted on the top. One of the men shaved on the top was Joshua Bridges, a Seven carrier, an eccentric, weighing when he died 21 stone. For two years he kept a massive stone coffin ready for his burial.
The Three Choirs Musical Festival is the oldest and most distinguished of its kind in the world. It started in 1715 as an itinerant music club, giving performances of church music. Later, concerts were given at the shirehalls, and it was not until 1759 that oratorios were performed in the Cathedral.
There is an area between Collage Street and Edgar Street where curious and tragic events have taken place, all of which were well reported in the press of the day. In November 1718 the whole of Worcester was talking about a girl named Mary Bentall who was troubled with a poltergeist.........
The old church of St. Michael in Bedwardine stood very close to the Cathedral on the north east side. It had been founded in 826, the name Bedwardine meaning 'ground reserved for the supply of the Refectory, a close or a field to supply bread'. Around the church were a number of houses which blocked up the northern facade of the Cathedral. It had a tower, and at the west end of St. Michael's stood the ancient clochium or bell tower with it's lofty spire...
In 1863, the Worcestershire Chronicle published the startling announcement that one of the great bells of Worcester Cathedral, weighing five cwts, had recently been stolen, 'it was not known how or when but it must have been within the last few months'. A ring of eight bells had existed at the Cathedral, and an America, who had visited the Tower, guided by a young ringer, informed the Custos that there were only seven......
The present house incorporates fragments of the Cistercian Nunnery called White Ladies, founded by Bishop Cantelupe, the friend of Simon de Mountfort, in 1250. Bishop Gifford, Cantelupe's successor, added to the endowment's and gave land bought from the de Flagge family. Some accounts say that Alice Flagge entered the Convent and brought to the Nunnery lands leading up to Perdiswell, part of which, after 700 years, is still called Flagge Meadow. The Nunnery was further endowed by 53 acres of land ................
For several centuries the public gallows for Worcestershire stood at Red Hill on a piece of wasteland, but long since enclosed by the Sebrights. It is still possible to place the site of execution, for two ancient roads crossed here and these roads are now very narrow footpaths. The one, the old London Road, runs up the hill at the back of the houses; the other goes from north to south, crossing the traffic roundabout, and has a sign marked 'Footpath to Upper Battenhall'. Like many other ancient roads, it has been used as a marker, or boundary of property, and so has remained.
Facing the Tewkesbury Road is the Loch Ryan Hotel, a fine late18th-century house that was once the residence of Bishop Gore, Bishop of Worcester from 1902 - 1905. He was the first Bishop of the 20th century and a socialist who refused to live in Hartlebury Castle, preferring to live in closer contact with his people.
In early times St Peter's church was known as the 'Great' to distinguish it from St Peter the Little which was a chapel at the royal castle of Worcester. By the 1830s it was picturesque but in a ruinous condition; and it was demolished in 1838. A new church was built with the aid of a government grant....
After the dissolution of the priory, the ferry and the boathouse passed with the Severn meadows to the new dean and chapter of the cathedral; and in Elizabethan times were the scene of an affray which became a Star Chamber matter, for strong passions disturbed the peace of the cathedral close in the days of transition from the old order to the new.
The old church of St Michael in Bedwardine, founded in 826, stood very close to the cathedral on the north-east side. Around the church were a number of houses that blocked up the northern facade of the cathedral. St Michael's had a tower and at the west end stood the ancient clochium, or bell tower, of the cathedral with its lofty spire.
In 1863, the Worcestershire Chronicle published the startling announcement that one of the great bells of the cathedral, weighing five hundredweight had recently been stolen. It was not known how or when but it must have been within the last few months.........
Over the south aisle of the nave is the cathedral library. It contains rare and valuable books and documents of great age, including King John's will and a book printed by Caxton who set up England's first printing press in 1477. It was not until 1461, in the time of Bishop Carpenter, that a library was erected, and then it was placed in the charnel house; but there were collections of books and manuscripts before that, some certainly kept in the cloisters.......
The old church of St. Michael in Bedwardine stood very close to the Cathedral on the north east side. It had been founded in 826, the name Bedwardine meaning 'ground reserved for the supply of the Refectory, a close or field to supply bread'. Around the church were a number of houses which blocked up the northern facade of the Cathedral. It had a tower, and at the west end of St. Michael's stood the ancient clochium or bell tower with its lofty spire.
Worcester Cathedral in the period of 1100 to 1540 was one of the principal places of pilgrimage. Many ecclesiastical inns sheltered near the Cathedral catering for the traveler and pilgrim....
The old church of St. Nicholas was erected in the 12th century and part of the crypt and basement walls appear to date from that period.
The site of St, Laurence's Church was outside the City walls, where the burnt-shell of Sigley's Sweet Factory stood in what then prior the Friar's burial ground. William de Beachamp, Earl of Warwick, was buried there in June, 1298, after much ecclesiastic argument and bad feeling..
The site of St Laurence's Church was outside the City Walls, where the burnt-out shell of Sigley's Sweet Factory stands in what was Friar's burial ground